Nuit Debout – AEGEE-Europe | European Students' ForumAEGEE (Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de l’Europe / European Students’ Forum) is a student organisation that promotes cooperation, communication and integration amongst young people in Europe. As a non-governmental, politically independent, and non-profit organisation AEGEE is open to students and young people from all faculties and disciplines – today it counts 13 000 members, active in close to 200 university cities in 40 European countries, making it the biggest interdisciplinary student association in Europe.Mon, 19 Feb 2018 13:28:20 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.13Team Red in Lyon taking part in Nuit Debout/team-red-in-lyon-taking-part-in-nuit-debout/
Sat, 07 May 2016 12:15:30 +0000/?p=6499By Chikulupi Kasaka

In the evening of the 3rd May, Team Red arrived in the place where the Nuit Debout protests and meetings in Lyon are held. This is the second time team red is experiencing the peaceful protests called Nuit Debout, which means Up All Night, made by people showing up in one place from 6pm to midnight to discuss their concerns towards the government.

AEGEE-Lyon introduced Europe on Track 3 in front of the crowd and we all invited participants to join us in a discussion about Schengen area, refugees and migration crisis in Europe.

A group of 12 people was formed under a tree where the Europe on Track flag was hung. In the beginning, we played a game as an icebreaker to create a safe space for everybody to feel comfortable to express themselves.Lucille from AEGEE-Lyon explained a sign game in order to introduce everyone. 5 minutes later, everyone was motivated, engaged and connected with others in a group.

Larnell from AEGEE-Lyon presented AEGEE, Europe on Track and its aims to the rest of the group. He further elaborated the cross-cutting and burning issues across Europe right now: Refugees and migration crisis, as well as issues concerning Schengen Treaty. Then, he welcomed members to share their views and opinions.

Here you can find some of them:

Schengen area benefits and encourages young people to study across Europe. It has made easy travelling without visa and border check-ups. All these made free movement possible, so for them Schengen area is very important.

For some people, European identity and citizenship are more prestigious than their own national citizenship. However, this statement created quite an intense debate as some other people disagreed, arguing that due to the EU, national governments lose part of its sovereignty. For example, if the EU passes a law, it needs to be integrated into their national laws. People holding this opinion feel that the EU has a superior status.

On the other hand, people supporting the first idea stated that the EU is only powerful when it comes to economy and other issues related to it, but that it has little powers in political affairs, because the EU only uses its political powers to legitimize its economic affairs like the free market.

They further disagreed with the statement that, in the end, not so many laws made by national parliaments come from the EU, as it mostly works within its different institutions and through its council. Since 2007, the EU is trying to take its power back but despite its competencies, its powers remain limited. There are some discussions within the EU managed by politicians and economists off the record, which shows a lack of public involvement and transparency.

Concerning Nuit Debout, youngsters felt that the movement and its protests are an important thing to do, despite the fact that they seem to have no immediate impact or pressure on the government. Still, it brings them back unity, togetherness and closeness by sharing their concerns over Europe and their government. By talking together, they are creating a network where they reflect about their ideas and current political issues, contrasting opinions in a respectful way,

Indeed, AEGEE-Lyon and Team Red established new networks and met many interesting people in its participation in Nuit Debout. The discussions were alive and participatory. We ended the discussion and left Nuit Debout feeling like we had an impact in raising youth voice concerning Schengen opportunities and EU functioning.

Thanks to Interrail for making team red arrive safely and on time in Lyon. All these would not be successful without the commitment and support of AEGEE-Lyon team. Special thanks to Marine, Larnel, Lucille, Christine and Clement.

Red Team Travellers from “Europe on Track 3” went to Paris to understand the French Clichés, taking part on the AEGEE-Paris event Voulez-vous Clicher avec moi?

On 23rd the team arrived at the famous Place De la République, where the so-called Nuit Debout protests are held. Nuit Debout is a French word meaning “RisingUp All Night”. Travellers had an opportunity to interview a few people from the crowd participating in the “Nuit Debout” and had this to tell.

What is Nuit Debout?

Nuit Debout started as a movement with protests against the government for their new project on Labour Law Reforms. It started as a small idea and grew bigger to other cities in Europe and especially in France with bigger and different ideas and perspectives. We conduct peaceful demonstrations and we have legal permission to do it.

We are allowed to be here and stay here from 4pm to 12pm (Midnight) every day. When we arrive, we arrange everything to be ready for our discussions, and when we leave we take all our things with us until the following day.

What is it for?

We question if our parliamentarians and representatives are really representing the people and people’s interest, the common interest. People want freedom of speech as well as freedom of expression over the things and topics the parliamentarians are discussing.

With new reforms, the government wants to change the current protective labour laws to make it easier and less costly for employers to lay off workers. We want to be able to discuss and have a say. We are against how the electorates and parliamentarians represent us and our agenda. We are not against the electoral system.

What kind of people participates?

We want it to represent all kinds of people. We want it to be as representative as possible, we welcome all those who can join us, we aim to represent the French society, the people. There is a great and peaceful atmosphere around here. People are happy and cheerful. I can say that we are working really hard to keep this peaceful and full of hope spirit.

Is it the only agenda?

Nuit Debout started as a protest against labour law reforms by the government, but as I said before it grew bigger and now we discuss about many different kinds of topics. The protestors are many, we have a great varieties of ideas and perspectives. Within our discussions, we always try to reach a consensus.

How long will it last?

It is the 3rd week now since we started but we want Nuit Debout to last longer, not only weeks but months and become sustainable. We have a working group for arranging different activities including votes.

Do you all go home after mid-night?

It is not always the case. There are other people with different agendas who want to stay behind. There are those who want to sleep there and the police fight to remove them and cause violence.

Have you contacted other protestors in other European citiesor other similar social movements?

I haven’t done so personally, but other colleagues have done so.

What are the future goals with Nuit Debout?

We want to overcome the challenge of having different ideas. We want to harmonize ourselves and come up with common ideas and express them to our representatives, to explain them that we are not happy in the way it’s working now . We believe that in future more people will join us.

Being able to presence the beginning of this interesting social movement has been an amazing experience for us, team red travellers! We want to thank AEGEE-Paris for organising such a great event and for helping us with translations and interviews